FRC Code proposals put on hold

The FRC has announced that most of its proposed revisions to the Corporate Governance Code will either be scrapped or postponed, in light of the Government's recent withdrawal of the proposed new UK reporting requirements for large companies, and the omission of the Audit Reform Bill from the King's speech this week.

However, the FRC still intends to press ahead with revised 'more targeted and proportionate' Code requirements in relation to internal controls, differentiating them further from SarbOx and allowing more time for implementation.

The pared down revised Code is expected in January, with a fuller overhaul of the Code postponed while the Government conducts a wider review of the UK reporting framework.

It is not yet clear whether the REM proposals will be implemented in this iteration of the Code, for example, the proposal that REM policies/metrics support long term strategy and ESG objectives, with associated ARA reporting. The Society had supported this proposal given it is an area of interest for investors and so the increased disclosures would have helped IR departments in their shareholder engagement.

Read the FRC's full Policy Statement here.

Published 8 November, 2023